Model

Kaylee and Brooke were playing fashion show. 

Flying Home

Leaving SLC- it's hard to leave the mountains and our family behind but I was happy to be heading home.

Austin fell asleep 5 minutes before the plane landed in DFW.

Emma slept about 45 min of the flight. 

Once again we rode the train to another terminal. He loved the train ride.

Last day

On our last day in Utah, Austin wanted to go to the airplane museum. Unfortunately he fell asleep just as we got there. He stayed asleep as I put him in the stroller and while we walked through most of the museum. He finally woke up when I put Emma on him. I didn't want him to miss it all. He started to cry when he woke up until he saw the huge airplanes around us and was instantly happy. 

We went out to dinner that night at Pizza Pie Cafe, and then Grandma and Grandpa took the kids to the park for a little bit.

My dad put up their tent-trailer while we were there and Austin got to sleep in it a couple of nights. He loved it and wanted to sleep in it every night. Since that wasn't an option we made a tent for him to sleep in. It was almost as good.

Hike

My sister-in-law Carrie invited us to go on a short hike Monday night for FHE. Emma insisted she walk. Any time we picked her up she squirmed until we put her down. I was impressed with how well she did hiking.

The trail led to a small pond. Austin and Loren had a good time playing in it.

Hiking is something I really miss. It's so quick and easy to go hiking in Utah. We have to drive a couple of hours to go hiking in Texas.

Aquarium

I wanted to do something fun while in Utah. Emma loves animals so I wanted to go to the zoo but we decided on the aquarium instead.  It was pretty cool. The kids loved seeing the fish, birds, and other animals.

Emma loved these touch pools. She couldn't get enough. She did touch a starfish but mostly she wanted to splash.

Austin's favorite part was this tunnel with the sharks.

Funeral

Grandma's funeral was Saturday Sept. 19. It was at 11:00 and I knew that was going to be a problem for Emma. She hadn't been sleeping well since we got to Utah and 11 was her naptime. Sure enough I spent half the funeral out in the hallway with her. My aunt Angela was really nice and took her when it was time for all the grandkids to sing and kept her until (she finally fell asleep) after I ate lunch. After lunch we headed to the cemetery in Salt Lake.  

Grandma picked out a beautiful pink caskett. Five years ago in December we were there for grandpa. It was freezing! It was a lot more pleasant this time.

I tried to get a picture of the little cousins (minus Marley). Poor Jack wasn't feeling well. Emma and Austin were both really tired and wanted me to hold them both.

Grandma Hanni

Grandma's viewing was Friday Spet. 18.   I didn't get to see my grandma much these last few years. It's only been a once a year visit. Last time I saw her was Christmas last year.

My aunt put together a beautiful display of her life. She even found a box of love letters my grandpa wrote her before they eloped.

These are their wedding clothes. My grandparents were high school sweethearts. After high school my grandpa was stationed in Clovis, New Mexico during WWII. My grandma went to Clovis to marry him. She was only 18 (funny enough- she gave me a bit of a hard time for getting married so young- I was almost 20.) 

This is the house my grandparents moved into in 1951. I have many fond memories of holidays, parties, and sleepovers with cousins here. The house will probably be sold now that grandma is gone so I took a few pictures to remember it.

Grandma cooked a lot of food for family parties in this tiny kitchen. The whole family used to come here every Christmas for lunch. 

The hat collection in the basement.

They bought this house because of the large backyard. They always had an amazing garden. What I remember most is the raspberries. We picked a lot of raspberries over the years and every family get together included raspberry jello. I also fondly remember eating raspberries in milk sprinkled with sugar. 

Flying to Utah

When I told Austin he would be flying to Utah with me me was so excited! I was a little nervous to travel with two little ones. I figured Austin would be ok. It was Emma I was worried about. She doesn't like to hold still. 

The flight attendant made both kids a balloon dog. The flight from Lubbock to DFW was only 45 min and the kids did really well.

The kids thought the Dallas airport was great. They liked watching the airplanes and Austin was really happy we also got to take a train to another terminal. Emma slept 45 min of the 2 1/2 hour flight to Salt Lake. The last 20 min of the flight she was done sitting still. Thank goodness for the animal game on my phone that kept her somewhat quiet.

It was rainy when we got to Utah, but that didn't stop the kids from playing.

We brought the slide inside and these two went down over and over.

It was also nice to have a Emma sized kitchen. 

30

I turned 30! I'm not sure how I feel about that! My birthday was on a Thursday so we didn't do much but have cake and ice cream.

Yesterday I threw myself a 30th birthday fiesta complete with homemade Cafe Rio salads. The weather was perfect for an outdoor party. It was a little stressful being hostess and birthday girl, and taking care of my tired grumpy baby but overall it was a great success.

The kids and I had a great time decorating. Everyone who came brought part of the meal so I didn't have to make everything.

 Kaylee made a piñata and it held up impressively well.

I'm glad I got to fiesta with some good friends. The only down side to the night (besides having to clean up after) was that I knew my grandma Hanni was nearing the end of her life. While I was blowing out birthday candles and partying the rest of my family was gathered around grandma to say goodbye.

Imagination

The kids have been really creative lately. It's always great to see them playing instead of watching tv. This is their beach.

Kaylee set up a museum...

Emma is such a busy little girl. Always putting on shoes (or gloves) and climbing things.